


That Guy...

by MissAquilah



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21907273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAquilah/pseuds/MissAquilah
Summary: With the necessary chemicals in hand, Phineas can finally begin reviving more colonists from the Hope, but how will the captain take it...
Relationships: The Captain/Phineas Welles
Kudos: 19





	That Guy...

**Author's Note:**

> When your best friend tries to makes other friends.

It had never crossed my mind until today, until this very moment. I had never considered this as a possible outcome for this situation. After rescuing me from Tartarus, Captain Nora collapsed from exhaustion and injury; apparently the poor girl had been crazed with worry when I was kidnapped. She destroyed any and everything in her path to come save me, almost getting herself killed in the process. I am grateful to her for all she’s done for me, so I was adamant about making sure she was well taken care of during her coma. In her absence, I took it upon myself to begin reviving another one of the Hope’s colonists. The revival process can be quite delicate and it requires constant supervision. So I postponed the mass revival of the Hope until after Nora was recovered and would be able to assist me.   
She finally woke up today, two weeks after the Tartarus incident; she was up and kicking as usual.   
“Super glad you’re alright Phineas.” She said.   
“Me? You’re the one who was just on the brink of death.” I teased.   
We sat and talked for a while, I explained to her how Earth was gone and how much work we would have to do to fix Halcyon. We talked about the fates of the first colonists that I experimented on. Everything was going smoothly, a nice discussion between 2 friends, that’s when I unknowingly dropped the bomb. “Oh and by the way, I’ve been putting those chemicals you got me to good use. I’ve already revived another colonist!” The. Look. On. Her. Face. “Oh...someone else is awake already…?” she said as her face first turned into a frown and then grew into a disingenuous smile. “That’s great Phineas!” she uttered through her teeth. As bizarre as it was, I still didn’t think much of it at the time, I concluded that perhaps she was simply overwhelmed with the large amount of information I had thrown at her since she awoke.   
She was eerily quiet as I guided her through the Hope, lost in her own world, I still didn’t question it. As I led us down different hallways and corridors, I explained more details to her along the way.  
“Our newest colonist is quite an enthusiastic fellow, I think you’ll like him. VERY intelligent scientist as well, you wouldn’t believe what he scored on the aptitude selection test!”

“Hm, sounds like a great guy.” She grumbled.

“After I revived him, it took a day or two for him to get his bearings, but once he did I began to explain our predicament to him and one thing led to another and we just started bouncing ideas off of each other about different ways to fix the colony. He’s quite brilliant!” I raved.

“Finally, someone you can talk to on a more intellectual level?”

“Yes! It was invigorating I must say.” I delighted. It was at this point that I began to suspect that something was amiss. Nora just had this...way about her. I could see the purse in her lips and the scowl in her eyebrows; the click of the heel of her boots hitting the floor sounded louder and louder as we navigated the hallways. The girl is probably annoyed with me because I revived the second colonist without her. Nonsense, I’m sure she understands that we are short on time, and must work quickly to revive the remaining settlers. 

We soon found our way to a large chamber that I had turned into a makeshift laboratory. A man wearing researcher’s scrubs stood at a lab table in the center of the room, he appeared to be focused on a project when he noticed that we entered.  
“Ah Dr. Welles!” he shouted, “I see you’ve returned, and you’ve brought with you…‘The First’?”

“Nora, Dr. Graddess, Dr. Graddess, Nora.” I introduced.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Welles has told me so much about you!” The new colonist joyfully exclaimed.  
“Yes yes, what a pleasure, I see you’re...alive.” she said as she sucked her teeth, “Phineas told me about you too, I guess you guys reeeally hit it off.”   
The scientist extended his arm out to shake Nora’s hand; she was reluctant but complied, all the while staring daggers through him. This was it, this was the exact moment that I had my realization about this whole thing. I almost didn’t believe it considering how independent Nora is, but the signs are all here, staring me right in the face…she’s jealous.

“Wow, quite the grip you got there hahahaaa…” the scientist commented as the cracking sound of his knuckles vibrated through the air.  
“Yeah you know…I can CRUSH throats with these hands if I feel like it, it’s a specialty of mine.” She retorted. I could tell that she was attempting to remain cordial, but the longer the conversation went on, the less amicable she became.   
“So Dr. you must be really happy to be living again, I’m sure you want to keep it that way? Halcyon is SUCH a dangerous place, brains won’t get you everywhere you know? I mean you probably wouldn’t survive an hour on Monarch with those skinny arms.”  
“Haha ah yes! I’m certainly not fit or athletic in any way, surviving the revival process was hard enough for me and I had a 70% chance! I didn’t think I would make it for a while there.” he admitted, it was almost as if he was completely oblivious to Nora’s aggression. This was a nightmare. This was NOT how I envisioned this going AT ALL.

“Oh REALLY? Hard at 70%??? Because I only had a 28% chance and as you can see I survived with flying colors, mostly.” She laughed, silently holding back her rage.

This is just ridiculous; I cannot believe she is acting this way! As if this is some sort of competition! As if she’s an elder sibling that doesn’t get enough attention! She’s acting like a CHILD! Oh Law, I can see her fingers curling up as her hands rest on her hips. Please don’t punch him in the face please don’t punch him in the face please don’t punch him in the face. 

“Of course you survived with only 28%, that must have been a cake walk for you! Dr. Welles has told me much about your strong willpower and resilience, it’s really miraculous that you’re standing here in the state you are. I mean to be a powerful warrior such as yourself, to be able to accomplish all that you have and still be able to maintain such an effortlessly beautiful appearance, you must truly be extraordinary!” Dr. Graddess proclaimed.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. Ok now he’s just TRYING to get himself killed. I’ll give him credit for the effort, BUT he’s wasting his breath, I know Nora enough to know that she would never be fazed by such petty flatter- 

“Well…I mean…when you put it that way, it’s hard to disagree hahaha…” she cooed as she brushed her hair behind her ear. Wait…Wait…what was happening?

“Ms. Nora, I’ve been brought up to date about the...aggressive state of the ecosystems in this star system. It would be detrimental to the colony to lose someone as resourceful as you; perhaps I could work to create some improved defenses for you. What’s the biggest problem you have out in the field?”

“Oh the usual...everything is trying to kill me, all the time.” 

“Well, back on Earth before I was frozen in stasis, I reveled in the forbidden a little in my free time and created some very unique prototype inventions. In fact, I was working on a concept for a weapon that could potentially rearrange the organs of another living being.”

“Holy shit, like for real? I’ve got to say, that’s pretty impressive.” she said, placing her hands on the lab table and leaning in closer to the scientist.  
Impressive??? I can’t believe that she’s being so easily taken in by something so...basic for ANY capable scientist. I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I just had to say something, just to prove the trivialness of this whole thing. “Yes yes it’s the duty of any researcher to push the boundaries of science sometimes, I myself have created a handful of powerful scientific weapons, one such including my portable molecular compression devi-”

“Yeah but that only shrinks them a little Phin.” Nora snapped, “So tell me more about this weapon that could move guts around Dr….?” her voice trailing off in a questioning manner.

“Marcus, you can call me Marcus, since we’ll be working together from now on! Now about the organ rearranger, you see-”

“OKAY, now I’m sure you’d LOVE to explain the inner workings of your INCOMPLETE weapon concept to us, and yes we’d LOVE to hear it as well, but we have far more pressing issues to attend to right now. You know? The revival of the rest of your fellow colonists, and not STARVING.” I interjected.

“Ah yes! Dr. Welles is right, we have much to accomplish and we’ve got lives to save! We’ll have more time later to discuss the…dark sciences.” Dr. Graddess concluded. After leaving the laboratory, Nora and I started making our way to her ship. I had a lot of work I had to do and Nora still needed more time to fully recover, so I suggested she help me around the orbital lab for the time being.

“Interesting fellow wasn’t he?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah he was pretty cool…you said he’s really smart right? Placed pretty high on the aptitude test?” 

“He definitely placed above average, and he’ll make a great ASSISTANT but he’s got a long way to go and a lot to learn still. He’s nowhere close to being on MY level of scientific genius. After all, I have decades of experience under my belt.”  
“Don’t worry Phineas, no one is doubting your IMMENSE expertise, you’re certainly the SMARTEST maddest scientist I know.” she said as she laughed under her breath.  
Did she just turn this whole thing on me? What am I doing??? What in Laws name is happening here??? After those words left my mouth, I had my second realization. I had fallen into a trap. My words betraying me, my emotions guiding me down this path, I fear I must admit the truth…I was acting like a jealous child too.


End file.
